The EASY FILL BAG™ (“EFB”) apparatus of this invention “resembles” a commonly used, prior art “Disposable Decorating Bag” (“DDB”), such as those manufactured and sold by Wilton Brands, Inc., Hutzler Manufacturing Co., Inc. and Kitchen Krafts, Inc.
However, there are significant differences between the EFB apparatus of this invention and the previous DDB apparatus, both in terms of construction and manner of operation.
The typical DDB apparatus is a multi-piece construction, including a bag, a non-disposable rigid decorating tip with treatment means at the annular discharge end of the tip and a coupler and coupler collar. Typical DDB tips are made of metal or rigid white plastic and the coupler and coupler collar are made of rigid white plastic.
In order to use the DDB apparatus, a DDB bag is assembled with a desired decorating tip (i.e., with the desired opening size and treatment means at the annular end) using a coupler and coupler collar.
The ability to have different sized discharge openings with a DDB apparatus necessitates the user having a selection of different tips.
If, after initial use, the user decides a larger size opening is desired, the user must disassemble the DDB apparatus and reassemble the DDB apparatus with a new tip.
During use of the DDB apparatus, if the selected tip becomes “clogged,” i.e., if the material being expelled out of the DDB apparatus through the tip has a “lump” that gets “stuck” in the tip, the bag and tip must be disassembled so that the tip can be accessed and cleaned.
Once use of the DDB apparatus is completed, the DDB apparatus is taken apart, the bag is disposed of, and the tip, coupler and coupler collar are cleaned and stored away for future use.
The EFB apparatus of this invention, on the other hand, in the preferred embodiment, is a one-piece, fully disposable construction, comprising a funnel-shaped bag with an integral, flexible, conical shaped discharge orifice at the end for “treating” material being expelled from the bag through the end. The discharge orifice has protrusions, serrations or ridges extending inwardly from the internal wall of the orifice and running longitudinally or parallel to the conical axis, along all or a part of the length of the discharge orifice. The orifice is made of a material so that it is capable of being cut at any point along its longitudinal dimension or along its conical axis to yield an exit opening or hole with a desired size or cross-sectional dimension. Regardless of the point of cut, i.e., regardless of the size of the hole or opening or the cross-sectional dimension, the inwardly extending serrations or ridges that remain insure that the material is “treated” as it is expelled from the bag through the orifice. While the orifice at the end of an EFB apparatus is capable of “treating” the material as it is discharged from the bag, the orifice is also either: (a) elastic or flexible enough in order to allow the hole or opening in the orifice to expand to pass “clogs” or “lumps” and then return to its original shape; or (b) supple or deformable enough in order to allow the orifice to be compressed or collapsed “upstream” of the hole or opening so that the “clogs” or “lumps” can be broken up and then passed through the hole or opening when the orifice returns to its original shape.
In an alternative embodiment, the EFB apparatus of this invention has sections of the orifice with protrusions, serrations or ridges extending inwardly from the internal wall of the orifice and running longitudinally or parallel to the conical axis and longitudinal sections without protrusions, serrations or ridges so that the orifice can be cut at one of those areas and used as a piping bag.
Prior art patents have issued for a number of decorating, dispensing and icing bags, none of which disclose the unique features or advantages of the EFB apparatus of this invention. Prior art patents noted but not believed to be relevant to the novelty or non-obviousness of the current invention include: Parker et al. U.S. Pat. No. 2,723,779; DeLorimiere U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,917; Tkac U.S. Pat. No. 4,961,517; Wallays U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,802; Wallays U.S. Pat. No. 5,931,346; Tedeschi, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,065,651; Gross et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,273,307 B1; Lunghetti U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,395 B1; Franczyk U.S. Pat. No. 7,021,505 B2; Folkmar PCT No. WO 2004/049816 A1; Ejeblad PCT No. WO 2005/115162 A1; and Ejeblad PCT No. WO 2007/090588 A1.
In the absence of the availability of EFB apparatus as disclosed herein, individuals have been known to take readily available ZIPLOC® and GLAD® zipper plastic bags, fill them with food material and cut the corner of the bag in order to create “homemade” disposable decorating bags with a “dispensing hole.” Such “homemade” bags are unsatisfactory for several reasons, most notably because: (i) they do not permit the “treatment” of the material as it exits the “hole”; (ii) the lack of an orifice prevents the desired controlled delivery of the food material; and (iii) there are inadequate means for dealing with lumps in the food material and the forced passage of the lumps out of the bag typically causes the opening of the bag to permanently widen, such that thereafter the food material is dispensed at an undesirable flow rate or worse, for the bag to no longer function.